Ron Paul and Barney Frank Pass the Joint to the Left

Left and right came together this week, as liberal Representative Barney Frank and libertarian Representative Ron Paul jointly introduced legislation to end the federal prohibition against marijuana, the otherwise harmless drug that fuels the snack food and entertainment industries.

"The legislation would limit the federal government's role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal," according to the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for pot legalization. "The legislation is the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition," MPP added. From the left, Democrat Barney Frank made the case that marijuana laws, and the wider War on Drugs, is both an expensive failure and a trampling of personal choice and freedom. "Criminally prosecuting adults for making the choice to smoke marijuana is a waste of law enforcement resources and an intrusion on personal freedom," Frank said in a statement on Thursday. "I do not advocate urging people to smoke marijuana, neither do I urge them to drink alcoholic beverages or smoke tobacco, but in none of these cases do I think prohibition enforced by criminal sanctions is good public policy," Frank said. “The war against marijuana causes so much hardship and accomplishes nothing,” Representative Ron Paul said during an interview about the proposal. “We knew prohibition of alcohol was very bad, so this is just getting back to a sensible position on how we handle difficult problems.” The 2012 GOP presidential candidate also said a trillion dollars has been spent to fight this "War on Drugs". "And it's a catastrophe, just as prohibition of alcohol was a catastrophe,” he explained. "Kids today have an easier time finding marijuana than they can alcohol." Not that the bill will actually pass, of course. Busybodies in Congress, particularly (but not only) Republicans, are dead set against letting people make their own choices in life. Republican Representative Lamar Smith, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has said he will not allow the bill to pass through to the House as a whole. It is unknown whether this blockade is because Smith is an actual imbecile or if he is just playing one for the cameras. "Marijuana use and distribution is prohibited under federal law because it has a high potential for abuse and does not have an accepted medical use in the U.S.," said Smith, ignoring thousands of years of evidence to the contrary. "Decriminalizing marijuana will only lead to millions more Americans becoming addicted to drugs and greater profits for drug cartels who fund violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Allowing states to determine their own marijuana policy flies in the face of Supreme Court precedent" Wait, what? Let's break down that last statement.